A moving vehicle (a train) traveling on a track as in a new transportation system and a railway is known. A signaling system which controls the traveling of such a moving vehicle is known. The conventional signaling system is of a central supervisory control-type. In the central supervisory control-type signaling system, devices for a main safety function (a protection function) are concentrates in a control center and the traveling states of trains in a whole railroad division are grasped and managed, in order to realize a function safety. The devices for the safety function (protection devices) contain an interlocking device, an ATP (Automatic Train Protection) ground device, and a station control device.
FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B are block diagrams showing the configuration of a conventional signaling system. The conventional signaling system is divided into a control center, (a group of) trains, stations and railroad tracks. The control center grasps and manages the operation states of trains in the whole railroad division, to realize the function safety. The control center contains an operation control device 230, an ATP ground device 232, a station control device 234 and an interlocking device 236. The respective devices are mutually connected by an exclusive-use LAN (Local Area Network) 238 to be bi-directionally communicable. The operation control device 230 controls the whole operation. The interlocking device 236 carries out the protection of traveling routes of the trains. The ATP ground device 232 prevents a collision between the trains. The station control device 234 attains the function safety of the opening/closing control of the doors of a platform screen door and a train at a station.
Each of the (group of) trains is provided with an on-board device 210. The on-board device 210 controls the operation of the train based on the control of the control center. The on-board device 210 is connected with the ATP ground device 232 by the exclusive-use LAN 238 to be bi-directionally communicable. The station is provided with a remote I/O 220. The remote I/O 220 carries out the opening/closing control of the platform screen door 240 and the control of railroad switches 250 on the railroad track based on the control of the control center. The remote I/O 220 is connected with the station control device 234 and the interlocking device 236 by an exclusive-use LAN to be bi-directionally communicable.
The operation of this conventional signaling system (the operation of a train) is as described below, for example, with reference to FIG. 1A.
When a departure time of an optional train comes gets closer based on the train diagram, the operation control device 230 refers to the on-rail state 205 from the ATP ground device 232 to check the on-rail state in the railroad division. When determining that the on-rail state indicates that the train is possible to depart, the operation control device 230 issues a departure command (or a traveling route request) 206 to the train.
When receiving the departure command (or the traveling route request) 206, the interlocking device 236 refers to the on-rail state 205 in the railroad division to be received from the ATP ground device 232 at a constant period and issues a command to the remote I/O 220 such that the railroad switches (branches) 250 in an object section for which the train travels, become coincident with the direction of a traveling route. The remote I/O 220 controls the railroad switches (branches) 250 in the object section for which the train travels, to be switched to the traveling route direction. The interlocking device 236 locks the railroad switches (branches) 250 after the switching. As a result, the traveling route of the train is exclusively established (traveling route control 201). The other train never travels on the traveling route. The interlocking device 236 outputs the state of such a traveling route to the ATP ground device 232 at a constant period as a traveling route state 207.
The ATP ground device 232 always monitors a train position by using a latest train position 204 received from detectors arranged on the railroad track and the train. The ATP ground device 232 outputs the on-rail state 205 in the railroad division which is based on the monitoring result, to the interlocking device 236 at a constant period. Also, the ATP ground device 232 refers to the traveling route state 207 received from the interlocking device 236 at a constant period, outputs a traveling permission 202 to the train for which the traveling route is established, while considering to keep a safety distance from a preceding train. The train generates a speed profile to a traveling permission limit position when receiving the traveling permission 202, and starts to travel under the speed control to be carried out while referring to the profile.
The station control device 234 receives a train state 208 (the state in which the operation is perfectly stopped and a brake is working) through the ATP ground device 232, after the train has arrived at a station. At the same time, the station control device 234 checks a door state of a platform screen door 240 through the remote I/O 220. After it is confirmed that it is possible to open doors of the train and the platform screen door 240, the station control device 234 issues a door opening command 203 to (the on-board device 210 of) the train through the ATP ground device 232. At the same time, the station control device 234 issues a door opening command 203 to the platform screen door 240 through the remote I/O 220.
In this way, in the conventional signaling system, for example, the traveling route control is carried out by the interlocking device 236 to establish the traveling route of the train, and the train interval protection for issuing the traveling permission of the train is carried out by the ATP ground device 232. In other words, in the conventional signaling system, the traveling route control and the train interval protection are carried out by different systems.
This method is a method proved based on results but having a problem described below. For example, the method has a processing system in which the protection functions are independent from each other, as mentioned above. Therefore, the conventional signaling system has a redundant configuration. Therefore, considering the system configuration while paying attention to the safety of the signaling system, it is not possible to step out from the above configuration and there is a limit in the cost reduction.
Also, when the signaling system is introduced, the operation control device 230, the interlocking device 236, the ATP ground device 232, and the station control device 234 become necessary to control the operations of all the trains in the whole railroad division regardless of a railroad division scale and the details of the train operation. These are a minimum configuration when the signaling system is configured, and there is a limit in reduction of an introduction cost.
Especially, the operation control device 230, the ATP ground device 232, control device 234 and the interlocking device 236 control the operations of all the trains in the whole railroad division. Therefore, each device is allocated with a very large load. For this reason, each device is extremely large in size and is expensive. Therefore, a technique is demanded in which a space for the device can be reduced, an introduction cost can be reduced, and the handling of equipments is easy.
Moreover, the operation (the opening/closing operation of doors) in this conventional signaling system is as described below with reference to FIG. 1B.
When a train has stopped at a station, the on-board device 210 issues a fixed point stop signal 261 to the ATP ground device 232. The ATP ground device 232 transfers the fixed point stop signal 261 to the station control device 234 and the interlocking device 236. Moreover, the on-board device 210 transmits through the ATP ground device 232 to the interlocking device 236, a brake operating/power running off signal 262 indicating that the brake is operated in the train so that the power running is in an off condition (a condition that the train is stopped and does not travel).
The interlocking device 236 issues a door open permission signal 263 to the platform screen door 240 of the station based on an AND condition of the above two signals (the fixed point stop signal 261 and the brake operation/power running off signal 262). The platform screen door 240 is set to the state that the lock state of the doors is released to allow them to be opened, in response to the door open permission signal.
On the other hand, the station control device 234 enters a timer count mode after receiving the fixed point stop signal 261, and issues a door open command signal 264 to the platform screen door 240 after the timer counts out. The platform screen door 240 opens the doors in response to the door open command signal 264 after receiving the door open permission signal 263.
The flow of these signals is based on the view point of the function safety. The system is divided into two different types of processing: the processing for releasing the lock state of the doors (security system: containing the interlocking device 236) and the processing for opening the doors (non-security system: containing the station control device 234). Moreover, as another phase, the processing is distributed into the interlocking device 236 and the station control device 234 for the load distribution of a series of door open sequences.
This system is a control system having good performance but has a problem described below. Because the function has to be realized by making the devices provided in the control center (such as the ATP ground device 232, the station control device 234, and the interlocking device 236) cooperate, the transmission paths for information necessary for the sequences increases so that it takes a long time for the processing to the door open command. Therefore, it takes the long time from a time when a train arrives at a station to a time when the doors are opened, which has an influence on a transportation capacity of the train system. In order to output the door open permission signal and the door open command signal from the different devices to the identical platform screen door 240, the transmission timing of the door open command signal must be adjusted by use of a timer so that the door open permission signal is transmitted earlier than the door open command signal. A technique is demanded that can reduce the processing time for the opening and closing of the doors of the train.
As a related art, JP 2012-96704A discloses a radio train control system and a radio train control method. The radio train control system includes a central device, a station control device provided for each railroad station and connected with the central device to be communicable, an on-board device provided in each train and connected with the station control device to be radio-communicable in a radio communication area of a station and a periphery of the station. In this radio train control system, the on-board device includes transmission means for transmitting position information to the station control device. The station control device includes main operation means for receiving the position information from the on-board device, storing on-rail information showing that the train is on a rail every partitioning section, transmitting the on-rail information to the central device, receiving instruction information from the central device, and controlling devices in the station based on the instruction information. The central device includes main operation means for determining a traveling permission range of each train based on the on-rail information received from the station control device and transmitting instruction information to the station control device. Moreover, the station control device further includes advance data storing means for setting advance data showing that the train advanced into the station, to a inerasable state when cannot be normally communicated with the central device. The central device includes return means for receiving all the advance data from the station control device and returning to a main use operation from a temporary use operation after the partitioning sections where all the trains are present are determined.
Also, JP 2012-131324A discloses an operation security method and an operation security system. The operation security method is a method by the operation security system which includes 1) a control device which manages an occupation state in each closed section, 2) a railroad switch control device which controls a railroad switch, and 3) an on-board device which is loaded into a train and carries out an interlocking control of the configuration of a traveling schedule route based on each closed section and position information of the railroad switch. The method includes a securement request step in which the on-board device transmits a securement request signal to the control device to request the occupation securement of the closed sections of a traveling schedule route; an occupation securing step in which the control device carries out a determination of whether or not all of the closed sections of the traveling schedule route meet a predetermined occupation possible condition, based on the securement request signal, sets all the closed sections to occupation existence when meeting the predetermined occupation possible condition, and transmits a securement signal to the on-board device; a first switching instruction step in which the on-board device transmits a switching instruction signal to a switch control device for a switch on the traveling scheduled route when receiving the securement signal; a switching step in which the switch control device carries out the switch and lock operation to transmits a switching completion signal to the on-board device when receiving the switching instruction signal; a traveling permission step in which the on-board device permits the traveling to the traveling scheduled route when receiving the switching completion signal; a release request step in which the on-board device transmits a release request signal to request the occupation release of the closed section which the train has traveled; and an occupation release step in which the control device releases the occupation of a target closed section based on the release request signal.
Also, JP 62-60308A discloses an automatic train operation control system. The automatic train operation control system stops a train at a fixed position of a platform of a station and carries out the opening/closing control by making the train and the platform screen door cooperate. The automatic train operation control system includes an automatic operation ground unit which is provided on a ground side to transmit a fixed position stop signal of the train through a transmission and reception unit, a station platform screen door, a ground loop line which is provided in a fixed position stop section of the train to transmit the above fixed position stop signal, the transmission and reception unit which is provided on the train to transfer a control signal to the ground-side units, a speed generator which is provided on the train to detect a train speed, and an on-board automatic operation unit which is provided on the train to generate a fixed position stop pattern in response to the fixed position stop signal and to control a brake control unit by receiving the detected speed from the speed generator so that the train speed follows the fixed position stop pattern. In an automatic operation control method, a last loop section of the above ground loop line is provided in a fixed position stop permission range, the last loop section of the ground loop line is used for transmission of a fixed position stop confirmation signal from the automatic operation on-board unit to the automatic operation ground unit and for transmission of an on-board door opening/closing command from the automatic operation ground unit to the automatic operation on-board unit based on the reception of the fixed position stop confirmation signal.